half? >> i think they have had some sho.s they didn't go in. this half we want to make surewe're contesting shots a little bit better. >> mike: thanks, coach. >> mike: bill coen knows it's a 40-minute ballgame. didn't seem too fired up there. his has played well in the first half. >> mark: 12 points is not a big lead. teams make runs. anything can happen in the second half. they have a whole 20 minutes. hoping that mason went into halftime able to regroup went out to play a better second half maybe than the first half. >> mike: coach larranaga whose team is 1-3 on the season. that's where their struggles have been. in the caa on the road, we know how difficult it is to win on the road in this league. at home, patriots are 33-5 over the last five years, but on the road they're 19-18. that's not that bad 26789-5 in the last seven. conference games on the road.

both wilson have come against caw. they want to remain undefeated in the caa. they're down 12. second half is under way. 20 minutes for george mason. [ whistle ] >> mike: travel. that's not the way they want to start. >> mark: that's not a good sign. what mason needs to do, they need to work the ball around theperimeter. tried to get inside touches. work the inside to the outside and maybe get easy shots. mason, 8-6 coming off the win the other night. 67-63, northeastern 7-7. they've won five in a row. >> mark: noer what this they do speaking of mason, they have the starters on the defensive end. that's where it starts. >> mike: first team foul of this second half here. a foul to andre cornelius. that's his first for george

mason. chaisson allen who was dominant in the -- dominant in the first half, 14 points, 5-7 from the field including 4-6 from threem three-point range. you would think they'd play better defense on him here in the second half. >> mark: i'm sure they'll be very cognizant of where he is on the floor at all times. >> mike: he got out on him. he didn't attempt the three- pointer. they have to watch that up fake and a drive by the screaming defender trying to get out on the shooter. >> mike: absolutely -- >> mark: absolutely. he's shooting the ball so well, you probably have to go for that fake. >> mike: shot clock. northeastern will not get a shot off. coach larranaga and george mason like the defensive action. northeastern up 12 here in the second half. nobody yet to score. >> mark: they play tough defense. didn't give allen or any of those guys, janning, an open opportunity. they made it difficult and got a shot clock violation. >> mike: typically, that's the kind of game you'll get when you play george mason. always a grind you out type of ballgame. sometimes it's in those low

60s, even 450eus might be a ballgame against them. they're averaging in the mid- 06s and giving up that in that regard as well. janning, nice feed up the floor for bigby. >> mark: that was a nice pass. what he's going to have to do when he turns the ball over, he's going to have to take that shot once he gets in the painted area. he had a nice shot in the paint. he tried to pass up to the forced shot. it went to his hands for the nice jam. >> mike: allen and bigby from toronto. he had 16 points at boston university in his third game of his career as a freshman. that was his first career start. excellent job by him in that first game. 21-7, the run here by the huskies. driving down the wing. a missed runner by northeastern. >> mark: that's ok. you can take that or any of the other make them plays.

continue to penetrate and get to the basket. >> mike: deflects into the hands of cam long. here come patriots who are down 14 at second half is about 2:00 old. trying to get something going on the offensive end. nice feed to pearson on the cut. got lost in that cut. >> mark: flent excellent pass by morrison. great look by pearson to cut to the rim to realize his man had left him. >> mike: cornelius trying to play heavy defense on allen. almost got the steal. >> mark: want to make allen work hard on bringing the ball up the court if he's not going to have help bringing it up. >> mike: janning underneath. doesn't get an offensive rebound. bigby. here is allen for three! picking up right where he left off in the first half. >> mark: that was the same shot he got in the first half. a wide open three. >> mike: that was tough because it was an offensive rebound and you're out of sorts. look where allen was just sort of camping out ready for the pass in the corner. >> mark: those things tend to

happen during the course of a game. [ whistle ] >> mark: you're not always going in position all the time. >> mike: adako with a block on tate. out of bounds. allen tonight, 5-7 from three- point range after this one. >> mike: the steam wide open. that's what you're going to do. >> mark: he's been proving that tonight. >> mike: largest lead of the night for northeastern. 15 points in the danger zone. takes another jumper. ojougboh, the rebound. allen again got the screen. there's the three! >> mark: i don't know how he's continuing to get open, but that was a great down screen for him to get wide open three. >> mike: very well designed by the huskies as they are pouring it on. 42-24. we've got a time-out. we'll be back in a moment.

16:37 to play. huskies have upped their lead of a dozen to 18.

>> mike: northeastern leading by 18 points in the second half. we'll show you why chaisson allen is so wide open here. mark, take us through this. >> mark: this is a poor defensive play by cam long. as you see right here, cam long just standing under the basket. he's not closer to his man. he gets hit by a light screen.

almost a double screen and you can't give allen that much time because he's been very effective from the three-point line. >> mike: there's long 20 right there. >> mark: cam long has to be very close to allen because he's been red-hot from the three-point line. you almost want to be in his shorts when he's on the floor. >> mike: chaisson allen for northeastern has tied a career high with six three-pointers in tonight's game. he has 20 points to lead the huskies and all scorers tonight. his career high is 26. we still have over 16 minutes to go here tonight. pearson. [ whistle ] >> mike: fouled. ojougboh, his second. second team foul for northeastern. allen, 20 points here tonight. >> mike: kind of games especially with mason being down as much as they are, you have to find out who the tough guy is on your team.

who can grind out. who wants to get on the line to try to make it comeback and make it tough for northeastern out here. >> mike: you're george mason. cornelius gets a shot rejected! in the hands of morrison. good luck for tate. gets the two. >> mark: pass by morrison. you don't find too many big people to find that bounce pass to a guard for an easy lay-up. >> mike: we were talking late in the first half about george mason offensively and people looking you're down 16, 18. what are you going to do offensively here? what they need to do defensively. that's where they're getting hurt right now. >> mark: absolutely. tough make some stops. i'm not going to say you'll stop people all the time. you have to make some stops and get offensive plays. >> mike: they did that time after the miss by adako. only way you get on a run is if you get stops on the defensive end. >> mark: exactly. >> mike: mason just coming back to back here. >> mark: it's hard to fast break when you have a team going all the time and you're

take the ball out of the net. >> mike: pearson is not getting the roll that time. it should have been a quick two. that would have been what they needed. you talk about not bombing up threes. they had a nice two. they got a defensive stop and probably should have had that lay-up there. he just didn't get the roll. >> mark: those are the kind of baskets that pearson and the rest of the mason players -- [ whistle ] >> mike: morrison called for his third foul. that takes us to another time- out. northeastern having their way so far here over the patriots with 15 minutes to go in this contest from bos the credit fairy... doesn't exist. what? it's make-believe. nobody left anything under your pillow. if there's no credit fairy then who will make our credit score go up? we will. by doing things like paying our bills on time. announcer: there's no magic to improving your credit. but there's help and it's free. go to creditfairy.org what?

>> mike: welcome back to northeastern. 42-26. the huskies with the advantage with 15bg to go in the second half. the three-pointers have been going down tonight. there are your caa three-point leaders. andre cornelius actually for mason comes in leading the way, but i think chaisson allen is chasing him now. >> mark: chasing allen -- chaisson allen is definitely chasing him. he's shooting 3-8 -- 6-8 from the three-point line. chaisson allen is doing a wonderful job. he's taking open shots and cashing them in. >> mike: he certainly is averaging 42.5% from the field. you saw the stat. after tonight, 6-8. that's certainly going up. northeastern with a 16-point advantage here. [ whistle ] >> mike: nice feed underneath and foul. going to the three-point line, -- >> mark: what makes that play effective on the opposite end

is you have chaisson allen and matt janning both cam of knocking down the three. janning driefts lane and has lay-up to muo. >> mike: morrison will have to come out this have ballgame. he has four fouls for george mason. here comes the substitution. kevin foster checking in for morrison. foster, the red-shirted freshman. red-shirted last year. morrison who they count on is really their second best shooter from the field. he's a sophomore averaging over seven points and over 5 1/2 rebounds per game. now they'll be without his services for quite sometime. >> mark: yeah, he protects the paint. he's a very gifted intloark. he hasn't been giving them anything on the defensive end. really, no one for mason has been doing anything defensively tonight. >> mike: they need that. there's the biggest guy down there at 6'9". there's a turn around shot that time by pearson. ereally the only one doing anything. you heard coach larranaga say

that at the break, mark. he needs other guys to step up and they haven't got that yet. >> mark: they need other people to pickup the slack and help pearson out on the offensive end. >> mike: rebound tate after the missed three. if that went down, it would be tough to win this ballgame if everybody is hitting threes. bad enough with janning and allen. >> mark: if he hit, that we probably would have had to call the fire department. >> mike: putting it up and in. >> mark: that's what they need to do. keep giving the ball to pearson. if he's the only one who will be effective, keep giving him the ball hoping things will change throughout the course of the game. >> mike: prior to that since we were in boston, nice kevin mcheal move. nice under and under. one of my favorites. nobody could stop that. >> mark: no one can stop it. >> mike: 13:30 to go here from boston. matthews arena, 14-point huskies advantage. clears way for ojougboh.

count it. >> mark: ojougboh -- [ indiscernible ] everything seems to be going. they're rung their offense. they're getting open shots and knocking them down. >> mike: think of the talent o'- - talent on this northeastern team with a big guy able to come out and knock down that 15- 18-foot jumper. cam long, back the other way. >> mike: not only do they have guys who can come out and knock knock down it for a jumper. they have a post player who can go down and score buckets in the post. >> mike: huskies by 14 pointsment once again, just under 13 minutes to play here tonight. guarded by cam long and mason still shooting over 50%. janning got it knocked away and stolen. hancock to tate. he almost lost it, but he does give it away!

another three by allen. he got hit. no call. [ whistle ] >> mike: the ball is out. it is mason ball. >> mark: that was unbelievable they didn't call that foul. he definitely got fouled on that possession. >> mike: yeah, cam long trying to assert himself as he got a little look on the floater there for the patriots who have it now we have whole sale substitution. hancock the freshman taken out with cornelius on the backcourt. front court players right now in the front court sherrod wright along with johnny williams and kevin foster. >> mark: and cam long needs to be aggressive. he's the leader on this ball club. he needs to be more agret gressive and act like a leader out here and be aggressive out here on the floor. >> mike: hancock, tough pass inside. looking for williams. hancock who had that monster dunk down the lane earlier in this ballgame trying to set the tone. it's been northeastern really setting the tone from three- point range. >> mark: nice ball movement from northeastern. >> mike: adako doesn't get it.

[ whistle ] >> mark: a foul -- mouth a foul on the tie. a hard foul on cornelius. back in a moment. under 12:00 to play on the caa matchup. the patriots, the only remaining undefeated team -- defeated team in the league down by 14. ( man ) last summer my kid made 4 figures. does he need to file a tax return ? they're not just any questions. ( woman ) did we just make a charitable donation ? they're the trickiest, thorniest, questions of all. ( woman ) is this considered a home office ? bring your tax question to the company that helped clients get over 43 billion dollars in refunds last year alone. how can i get more money ? click, call, or come over. h&r block: get it right.

oh! blue! time! time out. i touched it. i touched the ball before it went out, coach. come on, alex, the ref did not call that! you gotta be kidding me, alex! it's the championship game! talk to him, coach. i touched, it's their ball. don't foul them when they inbound. team on 'three.' one, two, three. nice going, alex. sorry coach. alex! good call. >> mike: 14-point northeastern lead second half at matthews arena in boston, massachusetts. let's take a look at

northeastern, schedule coming up here. they're trying to win their sixth in a row which we thought would be the longest streak under head coach bill coen in his four years. what do you think with theupcoming schedule? >> mark: they have very winnable games coming up and it's a possibility they can continue this winning streak. >> mike: they certainly do. coach coen saw his team shoot the lights out from the three- point line here tonight. 8-14 and they need to keep it up for another 12:00 and then they'll hand george mason their first conference loss of the season. >> mark: i'm sure coach coen would love to get a bottle of this and bottle it up and take it to every game the way they're shooting tonight. >> mike: good team basketball. they moved the ball around very well. unselfish. it hasn't been all three-point shooting. we've seen other great plays inside and nkem ojougboh a long range jumpers. everybody is getting into the act. now defensively, ojougboh grabs a rebound. and they're in no hurry, too. now they can slow it up, take time off the clock, work for a good shot. that's go the to be ver

frustrating when you're a team down by 14. >> mark: absolutely. they have four returning starters. they know what it's like to get a lead. we're in no hurry to for time. >> mike: for ojougboh. he's got that shot. he does it again. >> mark: it's looking to keep running it off, take 15-20 seconds off. get best possible shot instead of take the first available shos shot. this will be a very good night for northeastern. >> mike: i think what you're saying is a very veteran-laden team is they know what to do in late games with a lead and not to just play lax and say we've got the lead. you have teams do that. all of a sudden, they find themselves trailing. you're like what happened here. [ whistle ] >> mike: ojougboh trailing down low. it will be a foul's ripped it away. i think they'll call a foul on johnny williams. ojougboh, the defensive end also does on the offensive end.

another mid-range shot from the foul line. >> mark: did an excellent job getting into the paint area and finding nkem ojougboh for the shot. the one thing they're doing a very good job of is not only being patient. they're take what the defense is giving them. they're not rushing anything. >> mike: they're playing the offensive set and doing things well that got you to this point. you know, they might go the about a -- won't go back and do something different. three in the corner. not that time. >> mark: what's important important is even though northeastern has the big lead, they still want to be aggressive on the offensive end. they don't want to lock back and not look to score. >> mike: exactly. cornelius. here is ojougboh running the floor! >> mark: you see the big men whenever they're on the floor. they're rebounding. playing good defense for you. you want to reward them when they're out filling the lane. >> mike: out on the road in the caa, it's not easy. >> mark: it's tough out here. northeastern is making it very tough for those guys.

allen kept it there. find a streaking ojougboh for the nice, easy one-handed jam. >> mike: ojougboh. he has eight points, seven rebounds for the huskies here tonight. >> mark: i'm sure coach larranaga is not very pleased with how his team is performing tonight especially on the defensive end. i spoke with him earlier this morning at shoot around. i was talking they seemed like they were making a turn around once they had that big time loss against -- that was a wakeup call to them. i thought they would get to turning the corner and they had two imprelsive wins. tonight, is a letdown on the defensive end. >> mike: ojougboh a-fifth year senior, six career double- doubles from scottsdale, arizona. one year at texas, stone yoa. he did well on the west coast swing for northeastern as they started their run as they won five games in a row. in that five games on the west coast, starting off with a couple of those losses.

he was 25-33 from the field. that's 75%. you get your big guys shooting like that, the score and -- scorer and a rebounder. >> mark: think about it. he's getting the ball. >> mike: yeah. >> mark: you have two great players in allen and janning. that shows their unselfishness. another steal. >> mark: both of those guys, allen and janning, are all cra players and know and understand how to get the big guys involved. >> mike: we were talk about it earlier with the senior leadership they have. they don't look at it kind of like how did coach coen say he doesn't want to say they're all veterans, but he made -- >> mark: he made a very interesting point. yes, i have four returners that are starting, but it's still deceiving because i have seven new playersment when you integrate seven new players with four guys, you just still have a lost mistakes because it takes one pass, one bad shot that young kid doesn't know,

that can change the whole complexion of the game. [ whistle ] >> mike: this will be an offensive foul on a moving screen on kevin foster for george mason. fifth team foul for the patriots. there it is right into the tie trying to set it for cam long. >> mark: one thing about setting screen rolls for point guards, that was cam long's fault because he should have waited for the big man to set before he actually moves. that's cam long's fault. he has to make till his man gets stationary, stands still and then you rub your man off thescreen. >> mike: yeah, what's the setup. you're right. almost a steal. brian mcdonald was there you saw 15 for the huskies hasn't played all that much and the huskies trying to get guys in the ballgame, fresh bodies in and a chance for other players to see some time. adako, the fake. rebound from ryan pearson we heard a lot from in the first half. pearson had 12. he has six here in the second

half, but there hasn't been much going on for george mason at all a foul is called down low on northeastern. >> mark: on that previous possession, when you saw northeastern, they were taking their time patching up a couple of opening shots. >> mike: to get better shots. foul on adako. that will be his first. four team fouls on northeastern. second half, 18-point advantage. it will stay that way. neither team has missed a free throw until that one right there. northeastern 6-6. george mason, now 2-3. really haven't seen much of that. it hasn't been -- northeastern with seven turnovers in the game, 11 for the patriots. the numbers besides the three- point shooting, that's what's going to stick out at you in this ballgame. other stuff has come that's kind of even. it's just george mason has given up threes all night.

>> mark: george mason is letting northeastern setup and have target practice at the rim. >> mike: and a turnovers that mason has had tonight, a rot of them forced by northeastern with eight steals and they scored 13 points off those turnovers to just two by george mason. that's been part of the story as well. 17 points, northeastern advantage. >> mark: it's good to see the team spread the ball, share the ball and spread the wealth. not just one person, that's taking all the shots. they're passing up shots to make sure someone else gets the better shot. >> turn -- >> mike: turnover. it will be patriots ball when we come back. they have work to do. they are down 17. 7:43 to go from bostonment we'll be back.

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>> mike: huskies by 17. 7:43 to go in the second half. mason, not quite on their game here tonight. they've had a strong season. they're 8-6, 3-0 in the caa. perhaps on their way to the first conference loss. we still have plenty of time. here is the next bunch of games coming up for george mason. >> mark: they're going to have to go back, take this game, dissect this game and learn from this game and move on to the next. it's like the game of golf. take your medicine and move on. >> mike: how are you at golf? >> mark: i'm pretty good. >> mike: you ?rrt. >> mark: ield i'd tell you i have a 20, but i have lower than a 20. >> mike: you have to count count it shall you have to

count those shots. out of bounds -- >> mark: exactly. >> mike: play it right. basket for george mason down 15 points now as janning throws it on the floor. vinny lima hasn't seen much action tonight. the junior is in there right now along with bataille, ojougboh, janning. in the far corner, of course, bigby. >> mark: he's like 6'10". he's supposed responsible the pure shooter on the team. [ whistle ] >> mike: yeah, he's been in 12 games. only six points in about 7:00 of ballgame. foul here on kauri black for george mason. it's his first. fifth team foul. comes high -- from maryland, -- rashad whack, from maryland. highly recruited shooting guard. top rated shooting guard recruit by caa -- >> mark: a curl move by janning to come around that screen for the extra one-hand dunk.

get back to whack. i was shooting to him -- with him in shoot around. his high school was in the same conference as my high school. i told him i was sorry he went to mcnamara. >> mike: he has a promising career. >> mark: absolutely. i told him to keep work hard because he does have a promising career. >> mike: whack has played in six straight games. seventh here as career high nine in his freshman campaign versus vmi. he's one to watch out for in the fear future as pearson works it in. foster. george mason, it's been a real struggle even when they have offensive boards from point blank range. they finally get it in. pearson is the only one doing anything for the patriots. he has 18. make it 20. [ whistle ] >> mike: it's knocked out. >> mark: that was good hustle by whack not to give up on that play and not let ojougboh get one that shot. >> mike: let's go back to that play from matt janning.

we were talking about whack there for a little bit. didn't mean to forget about janning. nice curl for the slam dunk. >> mark: nice read toe liez his man was trailing. what should have happened he should have made janning go out to the three-point line instead of getting easy bucket. >> mike: two players in double fis figures. there is a foul here on bataille for northeastern. his first. third team foul. this could be on black. >> mark: what mason needs to do is he'll play hard, finish out the last 5. 49. still come out and -- 5:49. still come out and try to execute. they plan for something down the road. the season doesn't end tonight. you come out and he be cute and play for the end of the road. >> mike: if you think of a team that's dangerous not that they

haven't had such amazing -- even with coach larranaga, the last 11 years, they've been to the postseason 1e67 times -- seven times and we all know about the final four run. this is probably the best recruiting class in the caa. you would think that they have here arguably. they have some amazing players. if they're playing at this level, let's take tonight's game towft maybe. at this level with these young guys now, what's going to happen next year? >> mark: it's going to be carry. >> mike: -- scary. >> mike: three years. >> mark: it will be scary. they have a great coach in larranaga. he does a fine job with these players. [ whistle ] >> mark: he took the team to the final fourment we talked about that. >> mike: time-out, northeastern. you know, it's been talked about so much, so much. you can't forget about it because i think it's ban huge, huge recruiting tool for these guys much you come into that gym. you go down to fairfax and look up and go, yeah, went to the final four. you know, you want to come play for mason makes it they call t they've continued on that rufnlt i think they've done an

excellent job following that up not to say that was an aberration. it hasn't. they continue to go to the postseason. >> mike: what you said, i'll go back to it, they went to the ncaa tournament seven times. that's a big plus for mid-major schools. >> mike: absolutely. >> mark: that's a major accomplishment for a caa school, a mid-major school. >> mike: not to take anything way way from northeastern who is on top by 17 points. they've done a great job. over the last 12 years, george mason has been the cream of the crop of the caa and number one in wins, win percentage and postseason wins with 23. we talked about those seven appearances. so, they're going to be a threat obviously. even throughout the rest of this year, too. this has just been a real tough night here for them tonight. they've given up a lot of threes to the huckies who are now at 50%. it's finally come down a little bit. it's been over 60% for the whole game. they drain eight, maybe nine. there it is. the tie -- bataille gets into

the act. >> mark: gets in the paint area. his man slopd down and a knocked down three by bataille. >> mike: the largest lead of the night for northeastern is now at 20 with 5:00 to go. rashad whack for george mason for pearson who has a career high 20 today. he's got 20 tonight a three goes up. it's an air ball by wright. long, shot clock. [ whistle ] >> mike: shot clock was at five and did not reset after the air ball and then george mason throws it away anyhow. >> mark: now bataille bottalico knock down the three. he's very capable of knock down the three. any of these players on a northeastern team are very capable of knock down any shots they left open. >> mike: yeah. so, that's what makes it so deadly. here is ojougboh. a mismatch against foster.

jarrett jack lost ahead. ojougboh is there with 10 on the shot clock. foul here. it is on george mason. it's going on pearson. >> mark: what could make a team so dangerous they have very good low post players, but very good outside shooters is you cannot help when you have shooters penetrating the lane because you don't want to leave the shooter. it could be a very dangerous ball club. northeastern showing the ability they have the ability to be a very dangerous ball club in the caa. >> mike: black at the free- throw line. this is his first action of this season. yeah, northeastern has had a chance to get some of the substitutions in here tonight with a 20-point advantage you would think so. [ whistle ] >> mike: a foul sunday underneath. >> mark: one thing coach larranaga told me at shoot

around, substitute nine, 11 guys during a game. he substitutes a mismatch on the floor. he's a very good one-on-one player -- i mean, whack is a very good shooter. it depends on the situation. tonight it's a different situation. >> mike: scrappy bataille almost got the runner. here comes george mason down by 20 points. wright. nice play on the run for two. >> mark: good pickup by cam long to give it for the nice dunk. >> mike: we talked about how much george mason is able to rotate guys in and out. northeastern does to an extent, but they don't go to it as much. they have like seven solid guys i think they go about 9:00. tonight, we're seeing some of the substitution with this big lead. they have such a solid group. [ whistle ] >> mike: they don't deviate too much. >> mark: no, what's going to happen during the course of the game, both teaments are going to be very good wednesday once postseason anncr vo: with the ne geico glovebox app...

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>> mike: huskies by 18 points. neil diamond at the matthews arena. it's all the good when you're winning, right? >> mark: yeah, eventually got to get up. you're going to see hand passes in a minute. >> mike: or boston. assist tonight, northeastern with 18. george mason with seven. they've shared the basketball. you talk about it, mark.

they've hit some big time jumpers. everybody has got into the act. black at the free-throw line with the first one to go down and his first points of the season. >> mark: one thing about sharing. it brings a lot of caring. if you're going to be -- hey, i'm going to care about my rebound for you. i'm going to defend for you. northeastern is doing an absolute wonderful job tonight with distributing the basketball. >> mike: coach coen has been able to get his team over the years and these seniors now to understand -- [ indiscernible ] to understand that it's not all about you. if you're not having a great night, it's ok. we have all these other players that can step up. then, you don't force your game as much. there's some teams where unfortunately they don't have the kind of leadership and the broad range of talent where if one guy off, others can pickup the slack. >> mark: right. that'sy love matt janning so much. he let's the game to come to

him. he is the star f things are not going his way, he's still doing the little things to make his team win. >> mike: there's allen. >> mark: too close. >> mike: you thought he would just get it because he said everything. black for a! >> mark: yeah, that shot was a little too close for allen. >> mike: chaisson allen with 20 points. been that way for a while. [ indiscernible ] >> mike: it's a 12-point halftime lead. huskies have extended that here up to 20 and they'll give allen a great hand as he heads out. there's the dunk by black. >> mark: black being in the right place at the right time finishing very stwrong that bucket. >> mike: time-out here, george mason. how about chaisson allen this season. the play of the year really for northeastern. he had a half court shot at the buzzer to beat rice state back on november 28. that has to be so thrilling to

be table to do something like that. here are his numbers tonight. he's only a junior. he's come back -- coming back only for another year averaging over 13 1/2 a game. 20 tonight. >> mark: he's a very solid guy. he's very efficient at what he does. he's a very good defenderment he shoots the ball well. he does everything would you want your lead guy to do. he's the coach on the floor. >> mike: he's the second leading scorer this year t shows what he did last year as a sophomore. he led the team in rebounding, assists and steals. all the other things, all the other categories, all the other stuff that the intangibles you need a guy out on the floor to do. if you have that kind of a guy, now he's scoring. >> mark: what do you call those disbhies a stat sheet stuff. >> mike: he's been that for sure. northeastern now with a 24- point lead! that was a nice move -- >> mark: that was a nice move by black to take the ball to the rim strong. >> mike: kauri black from rialto, california. the 6'7" freshman. >> mark: this northeastern team has very good talent on the

team that comes off the bench. >> mike: black has six points. a player lost their shoe. that was foster. he doesn't want to play with it. he's like, here, take. >> mark: they're not going to stop the clock for him to put his shoe on. >> mike: 63-41, northeastern. we wind down under 2:00 and bataille is trapped in the corner. >> mark: even though both teams have their benches on the floor, they still need to be efficient in rung their offense because again you're playing for something. this is just not a blowout. you have to look at it as real game as when you're playing for the end of the season. >> mike: that's very important. a lost players don't understand that. >> mike: the crowd is disappointed they stopped the play so that foster could get his shoe back. >> mark: i guess they feel a little sad for what's going on. they could use a time-out. >> mike: bataille is out of the ballgame for northeastern. good game for him tonight.

five .6 assists for bataille to tie the senior from france. he speaks three languages and does a tremendous amount of things well. he's just great. he's a great story. >> mark: did you know he was in the circus? >> mike: i heard about that. what was the whole thing behind that? >> mark: he just said he was work the circus. he was -- i forgot exactly what he did when he was in the circus, but i knew he was in the circus. i was laughing when he told me that. >> mike: he's done a variety of different thingsment he likes to play the piano. he's into water sports, scubadiving, table tennis. >> mark: he's the type of player talking with the school, he is a player that will try anything. he's pretty successful at everything he does try. he most likely will be a successful person once his career is over. >> mike: he was out in hawaii. he wanted to go to hawaii to go surfing. an early jump on the ex continued time-out there. black with a steal. this guy is making the most of his minutes in his first ever

career here -- first ever game here with the huskies. now a three on the way by joel smith. no good. [ whistle ] >> mike: offensive rebound and a foul. andre cornelius called for his second personal foul of the game. shooting practice here for not only the stars, but a lot of different players tonight for northeastern. >> mark: shooting practice. target practice. pretty soon, we'll have to pull the racks out here and have a shooting contest the way northeast has been shooting the ball. >> mike: mathiang muo from australia. sydney, australia, for northeastern. 6'6" freshman. now, they have a chance to kind of bring some of these guys along northeastern. they'll have to start -- i mean f-you're coach coen, i know you have four solid seniors. you've got five seniors overall in this game.

now is the time especially because of this. what he's doing obviously to get -- to get other guys into the mix. what happens after this year for northeastern? >> mark: you want to give them the game flow experience and coming out and playing in games. it's very important these guys come out and execute. >> mike: there's the guy whack for three for george mason. >> mark: s he can put the ball in the hole. he'll be a very, very good player for coach larranaga and this mason ball club. >> mike: from hyattsville, maryland, knocks down a -- knocks down a tres. that's the third three-pointer for george mason. they're 3-12. here is another look at it. >> mark: larranaga has said very good things about whack. he's going to be something that will be a future for this team. happy to give him a lost love. he's in the washington area from my high school conference. mcnamara high school. >> mike: a lot of great threant down there as you know. >> mark: you have isaiah tate to ho played at dematha who is out of that conference as well.

you have a lost ball players who come from that area out of that conference alone. >> mike: we talk about the recruiting battles. when you look at some of these guys, electoral vote more i talked to george mason. amount of different schools recruiting some of these guys that the coach was able to win out over really shows a nice job of what they've done at george mason to keep things rolling for so many straight years. cornelius. nice rebound by foster. putback for two. not going to be enough tonight. 67-46, northeastern. [ whistle ] >> mike: another foul here. on cornelius again. that's his third. also, free throw practice down here for northeastern. they have been money at the free-throw line tonight. 14-15 from the charity stripe. 9-18 from three-point range. 47% overall shooting. just done so many things well

tonight. the stat sheet looks amazing on their side of the ledger. only eight turnovers, mark. 10 steals. >> mark: as i said f-coach coen could bottle this game up and take it with him, he would make a lot of money. he could sell it. >> mike: yeah, you're always saying they haven't won out 31- 25 being outrebounded tonight. oh, well. in this game. i know that's been an area of concern because they are not a great rebound team. they are actually last in the caa in rebounds. maybe that's another teaching thing they can talk about. here is a nice gain. joel smith with the exclamation point on this one tonight from matthews arena in boston. >> mark: it's always nice to see him dunk it in and the fans -- [ indiscernible ] >> mike: it's over. northeastern dominating this one tonight for their sixth straight win over george mason.

it gives george mason the first conference loss of the season. there's 3-1. northeastern is 3- 1. william & mary, old dominion and drexel all 3-1 in caa. >> mark: this is going to be a very tough conference this year. i saw the opportunity to do the odu game in georgetown game. i thought the way odu played, i thought they were going to run the tables. look at the bc u and the northeast and at the sjostroms. this will be a very competitive conference this year. >> mike: oh, yeah, george mason was in a battle. people thought it would be a blowout for the minutemen? they barely lost by two points, jmu, at old dominionment you're absolutely right. it will be a log jam. we have one already here at the top early on. head coach bill coen standing by won his sixth game of the

season. congratulationings. longest win streak under your tenure here. great job. you dominated from start to finish. your thoughts? >> thank you very much. i thought we came out. i thought we didn't have the same energy we had in other games. fortunately, we were making shots. in the middle of the game, i thought we played a little better defensively, but chaisson allen set the table for us and really got us going in the early part of the game. >> mark: coach, we talked about chaisson allen earlier in the shoot around. we talked about how good he is defensively, but his offensive production for your ball club has been tremendous tonight. >> he's really made a lot of strides. he came in. avenues terrific defender from day one and great presence and really ran the team with you always have confidence when the ball is in his hands. now he's really developed himself into a really good so i have -- offensive player and i'm very proud of heim one thing that your ball club did tonight, we they got that lead, they took their time and got the best possible shots. sometimes they passed up shots to get the best shots. i thought that was a very good sign of a very good ball club.

>> we have invest randy johnson this team. we've scwawntdered some leads in the past. they've learned their lesson and learn that runs start with poor shot selection. we took care of the ball and got quality defense. >> you played great ball. what is the meth message going forward? it's not always going to be that easy. >> no, we got very lucky tonight. shots were falling. as we teach other guys, defense will keep you in the games. we have to continue to improve in that area. >> thanks a lot for the time. congratulations. see you soon. >> you've got it. head coach for northeastern. huskies, 71-46 over george mason. we're back to wrap it up here from above the on after this.

>> mike: today's caa coverage on comcast sportsnet has been brought to you by champion, how you play. by geico, 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance. by kroger, freshness, variety, let's go krogering. by ramada worldwide. you do your thing. leave the rest to us. northeastern making quick work of george mason here tonight. 71-46, final score from boston. thanks for being with us tonight. our coverage of caa basketball here on comcast sportsnet. welcome back inside matthews arena. mike corey alongside marktillmon.

what a job by the huskies. all they did was extend their lead early in the second half and go ton to win interest fr there. >> mark: they came out and executed their offense in the second half. they were unby 12 pointsment what they did is ran the offense, took their time. they were in no rush. they were still aggressive. that's very important. when you have a big lead, sometimes teent teams don't be aggressive and want to hold on to the lead, they were pre i -- very aggressive on the offensive end taking 20 seconds off the shot clock knocking down the easy -- easy shots. >> mike: how about the whalen allen played early and often. he drained a million theets threes it seems like. >> mark: not enough can be said about himment anytime you have an open jump shot, you want that guy to knock down that shot. every time he got an open look, i don't care where he was on the floor. he was knocking down his shots creating, penetrating and getting others involved as well. he can continue that throughout the rest of this season, he's not only going to be an all caa player. he might be able to push for

the player of the conference. >> mike: northeastern got a tremendous amount of points off turnovers here tonight. they did a great job in that respect. they force add lot of turnovers, a lot of steals. we talked about all aspects it have. they were able to really convert tonight. >> mark: they came out and pressured the ball from start to finish. they gave mason no open look. they just pressured the ball. they dove on the floor from loose balls. that's what you want your team to do to hustle every play and the you see him make that nice one-handed pass. they collapse on defense. when the ball came into the area, they would ditch trapping and helping one another. they were talking on defense. that's a sign of a good team when you have teams out here talking on defense. >> mike: final stats of this one as we said it, it really was all in favor of northeastern right from the start draining the shots, playing good d. they were outround to. score all those points off turnovers, to be able to play the solid defense they did, they allowed one player to have a night and that was ryan pearson for george mason, but that was it. >> mark: he was the only bright

spot for mason tonight. he tried to get help. cam long tried to penetrate and do things. turnovers seemed to be the key for them tonight and northeastern capitalized on those turnovers. you see northeastern. they had eight turnovers as opposed to 16 for mason. you could never get anybody in any conference or any league if if you have high double digit turnovers. >> mike: talk about this league and how difficult it is. it is a huge win for northeastern. they know it's back to work because george mason, the same way. they'll come back and beat you by 25 points. >> mark: the only time you can celebrate is when you're in the shower getting ready to put your clothes on the tomorrow is a new day. as coach larranaga said to me earlier, they had that target on their back because they played in the final four three, four years ago. so, everybody will be afternoon you once you're at the top of that league. >> mike: have a great night. we'll see you again soon, all right? >> mark: same to you. >> mike: that will do it for us from northeastern. thank you so much for joining from us matthews arena. huskies knock off the patriots

71-46. games on saturday coming up at 2:00 p.m. towson visits james madison. hofstra takes on old dominion. check out more caa basketball check out comcast sportsnet this saturday. check your local listings to find a game in your area. final score tonight, northeastern, 7-1 -- 71. george mason, 46. tonight's game produced by joel katang, for my partner mark tillmon and i our entire crew from boston, mike corey. tonight has been a presentation of comcast sportsnet and colonial athletic association. have a great night, everybody. and any toppings, and pay just $10 bucks. you want a large meat lovers pizza? $10 dollars. maybe you're more of a large pan supreme kind of person. $10 dollars. thinking of a combination of your own? that's $10 dollars too. that's any pizza, any size, any crust, ppings,

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all sports have their share of masterful performers, but there are some who transcend the games of which they play, who cement their legacy, who truly stand above the rest. this is "halls of fame." 1992 to 2008, alonzo morning dominated the paint. a soft touch in the lane and an ability to powerfully finish made him a feared scorer. now, his willingness to rebound combined with ferocious shot blocking cemented his status as an all-world defender. the former nba center's grit, however, did not come from banging in the lane. he was born and bred growing up. >> so tell us about your childhood? >> well, my childhood is a

little cloudy. to kind of sum it up, product of a broken home. my mother and father separated. i went to the foster care system. simply because at that particular time, my mother and father were going through some issues that required counseling. i was a part of that whole process. it was very disturbing to me. i did not digest it well at all. in that particular time, i'm a part of the counseling sessions. about to be an only child at that particular time, i was fed up with it, really. didn't like the atmosphere and the energy in the home. they both loved me dearly, i just didn't understand what was going on. the counselor asked, could she keep me for the weekend? they said, well, fine, you keep

him. you come back on monday and get him. when they came back on monday to get me, i didn't want to go back home, you know? so i stayed in a group home for a period of time. they couldn't force me to go back. so i was a product of the system. for about a year. then my family -- an amazing woman. very angelic. she fostered 49 kids in her lifetime. >> as a kid, you've mentioned that your parents said, okay, you can have him. that's got to be devastating. >> well, no. it wasn't really that devastating. they knew i was having emotional issues and they knew it was what was going on between them.

at that particular time, i didn't want anything to do with it. they decided to get a divorce and separate. so, in the core system, in the process the judge asked me who i wanted to live with. they were going over the custody issues. i say, you know what? i love them both dearly. i don't want to live with either one of them. i don't want to have to choose between my parents. it's tough for a child to have to choose, especially when i loved them both dearly. so i elected not to do that. i stayed in the system and i, you know, i fell in the hands of an amazing woman. i looked back on it, i speak to my father today, we have a great relationship. i just got off of the phone on my way here. and my dad -- i remember my dad telling me that i'm happy that you got into a situation where you had someone to love you and care for you and gave you all of the things that you needed at

that particular time that we weren't able to give you. i was fortunate enough to fall in the hands of a woman who influenced me to be a very productive person, to be respectable, knowing the qualities of being a man, stressing the importance of education. all those particular things. i was fortunate. it's all about get in, get out and get going. men's rogaine foam won't get in the way of that plan. it's the first and only foam... that's fda approved to regrow hair. it goes on easily... and dries quickly, so it's a breeze to use. why live life in the slow lane? men's rogaine foam. use it or lose it.

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>> in 1987 as a mcdonald's high school all american, alonzo mourning truly step in the spotlight. from 1988 through 1992 behind an iconic coach, he learned to gracefully embrace it. >> one guy was with you at georgetown. >> john thompson carried me towards coach lassiter, mihai school coach, simply because, you know, i look at a guy like don thompson. he was another father figure. >> he's had some big guys at georgetown. was he a disciplinarian? >> did it help that he was big? >> that goes without saying. i'm sure if you look up disciplinarian in the dictionary, you see don thompson, a picture of his mug

right there. yes, he was. he wasdisciplinarian. but i think that's really lost in college basketball now. i think you need more of that. you need more of the dean smith and the john thompson. the only ones really left is coach k. like the older -- you need the bobby knights. you need that type of influence -- those guys teaching fundamentals, enforcing the right way to play the game, respecting the game. helping the kids to understand you get out of the game with a you put in to it. not having the sense of entitlement that's rampant these days in college basketball where everybody's got their hand out now. they come from the program, this used to cater to them. this goes on. so big john's influence of being

a disciplinarian, stressing the importance of education is something i take a lot of pride in, graduating from georgetown university. and one thing i remember big john telling me is, son, if you had a cure for cancer, you would never know it. i looked at him, i thought about it. and i said, what do you mean? and he said you're not asserting yourself in school enough and using what god gave you. you have a good healthy mind now, you're in one of the most major prominent universities in the country. you're not taking advantage of this opportunity of getting an education. you can do better than what you're doing. don't show me enough to stay on the team, which i was doing. show me more than that. i know what you' ear capable of doing. that next semester, i made the dean's list based on that alone. you don't have enough of that

anymore. and i think we've done tremendously for my success. and help instill the importance of education and helping me understand that hey, you know, when it's all said and done, basketball has a -- has a window. your sports has a small window. . after that, what do you want to do? you've got to understand that, hey, you know, i've got to use my mind. information that i have up here in order to continue my -- my career. my corporate career. >> what were the memories of playing basketball at georgetown? >> the one memory that stands out -- i mean other than the competition and the big east which i'm a little bias, but honestly, you know, i feel like that's the best conferences in the world. the toughest conference in the world. you know? and i love to just have the competitiveness of the league and what have you. other than that, you know, the only thing that stands out is me walking across that stage with

my diploma in my hand, you know? this is something that i had never envisioned doing. it's something i placed a lot of emphasis on when i got to georgetown and being the first in my family to graduate college. that men a lot tome. and to see on that stage, to see my mom's five sisters and five brothers. you know? and to see, you know, my dad's sister and my cousins and all of them come down, my foster mom, my mom and dad, everybody there to see that particular moment. that's the one thing that stands out. i'll never forget that.

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alonzo morning had nothing more to prove by the time he left georgetown university. a first team all american his senior year, always the first

person to be named the big east player of the year, defensive player of the year, and big east tournament mvp in the same season. now after dominating one of the best conferences in college basketball, it was time to move on to the nba. >> when you got drafted, do you remember the day? >> oh, yeah. i was second. it was an emotional moment for me. i didn't show it then. it did at time. i was nervous with energy and anxiety. but it was a very emotional moment. this is what i worked for, you know? now, because of, you know, the business of basketball at that particular time, they didn't have the rookie -- rookie skater or the rookie wage scale that they have in place there. i got my first dose of, you know, contract negotiations in the business of basketball. i got my first dose of that, you

know? and it was cruel. >> why is that? >> it was cruel simply because i missed all of training camp. i was ready to go and play for my team. it was my agent the day before trying to explain to me, hey, you know, we've got to go through this negotiation because i'm trying to get you x and they're trying to give you y. >> but y was something you probably said, well, that's pretty good too. >> exactly. exactly. right. so i was just ready to go. but it was something that i had to deal with at that particular time. and finally, when we worked it out, i had missed all of training camp. and i walk on the plane -- they were rushing me to charlotte. i walk on the plane and my teammates are sitting on the plane. waiting for me. a rookie. waiting for me to get to the plane.

so -- and we're on our way indiana -- no time to practice, do nothing. okay? so i get on the plane. i walk on the plane. i'm thinking i'm expecting everybody to be excited to see me and everything. and it was silence. welcome to the nba, you know? and the only one that basically really gave me a smile wmuggsy bogues. everybody was like, we have to wait on this dude? mugsy took me under his wing. my rookie year in the nba was exciting for me because we led the franchise to the first playoffs. we went to boston. that's when kevin mikhail retired and got the shot to get

to the second round. we end up losing in the second round. it was an exciting time for us. >> you get beat by the knicks, what happens? >> the next year, we ran into a couple of injuries. we were hurt at that particular time. guys experienced injuries the second year we did make the playoffs. and then in the third year, we made the playoffs, ended up losing to chicago. and it was time to move on because i was entering the free agency. the market was increasing. for players like myself. and david faulk was out there working saying, okay, it was the best case scenario for me. i asked him, how was it planned? and he was like, kind of like planned for big john. you're going to have to work. now i'd gotten used to this

country club atmosphere down in charlotte. for the first couple of years. -- man, i ain't trying to do that again. and he said, if you want to win, you'll go to miami. i remember patrick ewing telling me that on the phone. mind you, i had an opportunity to play for the knicks at that particular time. so i would have been playing right alongside patrick and like -- i would have liked our chances of winning then as well. he told me, hey, if you want to win, go down to miami. that was someone i confided in. me having my southern background, i didn't want to leave charlotte. >> miami became home.

>> mm-hmm. >> what's the memories of playing miami? >> the one that stands out is one in 2006. the championship. the '90s team, jamal mashburn, p.j. brown, dan marlley. that team was a championship team. we didn't win it. michael stood in the way of a whole lot of teams winning it at that particular time. but we were a championship team. we were young, very tough-minded disciplined team. we just got the bad breaks, you know? one thing about basketball, man. you're going to run in to some bad breaks.

going to be fulfilling at times but it can be so humbling, it can. one thing that pat riria riley there's pain -- there's winning and there's misery. regardless of how many games you won, you remember the misery more than anything. the division championships and everything was great back then. but we couldn't get over the hump and we made it

i had a pretty good job, but it wasn't what i wanted to do, and i thought, i don't want to do this for the rest of my life i probably don't want to do it tomorrow. i told my dad, "i want to start a brewery." i told him, "i think you're crazy." i started sam adams with boston lager to make rich, flavorful beer. and he went and sold it one bottle at a time. no one had tried an american beer that had that kind of flavor. boston lager really was a groundswell. there's that saying, "do something you love "and you'll never work "a day in your life." i don't feel like i've worked for 24 years.

the two-time member of the nba all season first team, alonzo mourning's 2.8 blocks per game are second all time. and while zo won his share of individual awards, he reached the pinnacle of team success in 2006. the nba championship didn't come easy. first, zo had to overcome arguably the biggest obstacle he has ever faced. >> you had a physical bad break. tell us about that. in the midst of your career? >> well, i was diagnosed with a rare kidney disorder, 2000. it's a disease that scars the filters in your kidney.

when i was diagnosed the year before, you know, i had gotten runner up mvp. just come off of one of the gold medals in the olympics. witnessed the birth of my second child. and all star defense report, you name it. all of these accolades. to get hit with this news, it was a very humbling experience. and i felt like, it wasn't why me. it was never that. i didn't have that particular approach. it was why now. why right now? god, i mean, evidently, you're trying to tell me something. i want to know why not right now. and we came to the conclusion that i had to step away from the game. i was determined mentally to get back on the court. i just didn't know how i was going to do it.

i had to stay positive. that was key. them after that, it was a matter of putting in the time to educate myself on what was going on with my body. make the adjustments on the dietary standpoint. >> what do you mean by that? i think it shocked a lot of people -- man, the shape you're in, all of a sudden, boom. >> well, that's with everybody, i mean that's how life comes at you. we could do extremely well. people are going to have bad days. bad times, you know? and adversity. introduces a man to himself. i don't know anybody who's going to live a perfect life. i don't care how much you have. material thing, money, cars, clothes that you have. you can experience some trying times.

and a lot of times we don't know right away why we're going through something, but eventually, we figure out the answers why -- why you're going through what you're going through. you know? so i dealt with it. and i'm glad that i dealt with it with the mind set that i did, that i wouldn't be sitting here talking today if i didn't. and because i knew that if i took more of a why-me feeling sorry for myself approach, first of all, i probably wouldn't be a world champion right now. second, i would probably be on a die y'all cis dialysis machine right now. i kept my mind strong and my body followed it. >> when you get back on the floor, was that day as kpil rating as the first professional

game? >> yeah, it was. i defeat the odds. i defeated the odds. there were a lot of people that basically said, you know, give it up. can't do it, you know? focus on your health. you've done enough. you doan have anything else to prove, you know? that's why you always follow your heart. follow your heart. i encourage people, follow your heart. the heart will tell you what to do. the right thing to do. i followed my heart. i followed my heart and everything else took care of

secondly, correct me if i'm wrong but if malpractice insurance driving our health care or is it just a red herring-- kissell let me answer the question and then i will

answer the second question. what has to happen in massachusetts reflects what will happen to run the country because two years ago massachusetts took an approach very similar to what is in a package offering for people who don't have access to insurance or for home insurance is too expensive a choice of plans. you go on to the web and if your income is very low, it can even be free. it has cap the costs at roundy% of income and it has allowed people a choice of plans and have gone from 12% to have insurance to only 2% without insurance. now the striking thing is for most of us in the clinical world, for all of the patients we haven't noticed the difference at all. old we noticed is we suddenly were not saying as a cancer surgeon, i have and seen a patient who is that insurance coverage problems like we used to have an two years and is then an amazing thing. it can affect physicians in the

sense that we are starting to think about how we deal with costs. and that means some struggle at the local level for is to begin thinking about can i offer a package price for these services that i provide is a physician? can i join up with my colleagues in the hospital so that we may change the way we have organized their care, and it is an opportunity and also one that we will find hard. malpractice reform, i have been in favor of. i am not in favor of caps but instead moving to a no-fault malpractice insurance system, but as a driver of costs it is one, but it is a driver of about 3% of the increasing costs from the studies that i have been part of and others have been able to do. and so, it falls in between. it is not quite a red herring to talk about bell practice freeform because it is one of deleverages available to us and

as long as we are being fair and accounting for the costs for patients we harm, but at the same time it is far from the bee all and end all is that pointed out. texas this had a strong malpractice reform the plan into place and it didn't help improve their cost picture there. >> host: last call, louisiana, this is bobby on the republican line. good morning to you. >> caller: good morning susan n. doctor. i have a simple question and it seems like they commonsensical kind of fellow. is it necessary to retrieve all of the reforms he is talking about, all the things we are no better absolutely necessary in this country. is it necessary to create an entire new branch of the government in order to compensate for that? >> guest: i don't have the easy answer to that question. there is a bunch of functions we have to have happen. why not cover populations and

although i am someone who would have liked to have seen a government insurance option available to offer as a backstop to run the country, the plan doesn't have that, so the private insurance plans that will be offered, even there, even resorting to a world where we want to make sure it is private insurance, we have to have a structure that can call insurance exchanges, they can make it so that you have a panel of options available to you. if you have no insurance or don't have access to insurance through an employer so it feels like guess and ordered to have reform there are new rules for government. there are new rules to get rid of preexisting condition exclusions which means enforcement of those kinds of rules. and, then we have a substantial number of programs trying to improve for example our health care statistics. we don't have timely information

on what the costs really are. we don't know county by county how well we are doing with heart attacks and ammonia and surgical complications and that kind of information has to be more readily available, so although i am very much in agreement that creating more government is a place where we can just find ourselves hamstrung by bureaucracy. it collapse, people o ought not ony by a lack of care, but

>> on washington journal tomorrow morning michael steel chairman of the republican national committee. we will focus on the economy with senior business for national public radio. and you can call him with questions about counterterrorism to former deputy national security

adviser

>> now join chiefs of staff mike mullen on middle east security issues. after his comments will you hear from "washington post" columnist jim hoagland and washington scholar, michael eisenstadt this. is an hour and a half. >> good afternoon. welcome. i'm rob satloff director of washington institute of near east policy. i would like to welcome you all to this very special event this. year, the institute is celebrating its 25th anniversary. it is especially appropriate that we can open this celebratory year by hosting our nation's highest ranking military officer. admiral michael mullen. let me take a moment to extend special greetings to

members of the institute's board of trustees who are here with us today as well as to those who have gathered in new york, los angeles, south florida, san francisco participating in this session by video conference, welcome to all of you. >> admiral over our 20 years we have been very proud to establish a close working relationship with the uniformed military. sometimes we come to you just today for example, two of our senior scholars cannot be with us. they are down lecturing at the u.s. army central command of atlanta. sometimes you come to us. for more than a decade, we have been honored to host serving officers for up to a year of research. education and training as part of the defense fellows program from the air force and from the army. through the it all, with the institute we have come to respect the bredth. and the multiplicity of responsibilities that you face in our part of the world. the middle east.

and we have seen in your people, a real appreciation for the need for deep regional expertise and specialization that we hope we bling to the table. i look forward to many more years this partnership together. today in the border middle east. the hot wars simmering conflicts. terrorist plots. the spread of radical ideology. stalled peace efforts. we have not even begun to talk about dealing with allies and the most difficult of all. dealing with the rest of washington. to face all of these challenges, we take great confidence from the leadership and the service of our guests today. admiral, mike mullen. >> admiral millennial send now in his second term as chairman of the joint chiefs. a 1968 graduate of an -- annapolis he commanded 3 ships and a cruiser destroyer group. a battle group and fleeting

strike atlantic and then served as commander of u.s. and nato naval forces, europe. and then chief of naval operations. along the way, he graduated from the advanced management program at harvard. harvard business school that is and earneee from the naval pt graduate's school. the lifetime of service was in self preparation for one of the toughest jobs of public life. i am not referring to being a guest on the daily show. [laughter] which the admiral was just last night. rather, serving at a time of war as principle military adviser to the president, the secretary of defense, the national security council and homeland security council. with reprivilege today have him here today. just a word about today's program, first, if i can ask everyone to turn your cell phones off. um, that would improve the program for everyone else. second, after the admiral's remarks, we will have time

for a few questions which i will moderate. and then after his departure, we will ask all cameras and all participants to stay as we will then proceed to the second part of our program and analysis of what the admiral just said. [laughter] with two of the smartest interpretors of such things in washington. jim hoagland of the "washington post", and our own mike eisenstadt director of the institute's military and securities studies program. that, admiral it is a pleasure to welcome to you the washington institute. >> thank you. [applause] >> i appreciate that introduction. and actually i am not sure i wouldn't like to stay for the analysis myself. [laughter] it certainly is what i say certainly is frequently analyzed. and it is a great opportunity to be with you here this afternoon and i very much look forward to your questions. i will make a few comments

maybe i will start with john, the john -- jon stewart show last evening in new york. and someone add asked me, why would you do that? and the answer quite frankly is pretty simple. his audience is basically 18 to 25-year-olds and they get an awful lot of their news from him. and at a higher level, in terms of my own communications in a world where things are moving so rapidly and changing, so constantly, how i communicate, how we communicate and how we even begin to understand -- how younger generations are communicating, is really the reason that i did that and have worked quite frankly to get on other media -- mediums to in fact

communicate and to also try to listen. >> so, and i -- i was taken in wash watching the show before i went on that um, john called up and -- if you have not seen it. and many of you would not have -- i am assume, maybe that is a bad assumption. i am assume that can you did not stay up that late or do not tune in regularly. but he did have a couple of pieces on yemen. and he started out with okay, let's call up the google map. so we can figure out where yemen is. and what that is, is the reminder that the last time that i think that the american people really thought of yemen, was when cole gotbaumed in 2000. so there is clearly, just to look at the press and the discussions and the analysis, there is a awful lot going on right now. focusing on yemen.

i understand that. it hasn't been something that was broadly focused on and debated certainly in our country, though. i spent a -- and the military leadership has spent a fair amount of time on yemen far before december 25th. >> i will talk about just 3 areas briefly. one is the broader middle east focus. it's been a priority. my top priority since taking the job over two years ago. because i think that this is the most dangerous part of the world. and that stability there. -- security there. -- it is as vital there as anywhere on the globe right now. and continuing events as was pointed out, the -- the potential for great instability, or greater instability is significant.

so many of us have focused on that area heavily. and i think that you we will be for the foreseeable future and certainly a -- i was just on a trip to iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan just before the holidays. in iraq i was actually moved by the fact that most of the people that i discussed issues with, wanted to talk about economics. they want today talk about development. and clearly, we are on a path right now where we will start to withdraw significant numbers of troops here, after the elections on the 7th of march. we will be down to 50,000 next summer. and by the end of 11. the plan is that all-american troops are out of iraq. we have worked hard to put the plans together and basically with reon track. that doesn't mean that there are not challenges or it will be easy, they are huge political challenges there. we understand that. and i have been taken in

recent months by the fact that in the tragic bombings when so many lives were lost in iraq that there was not a sectarian response. and that infact the government there adjusted and is learning to deal with the kinds of things. that was reinforced by my most recent visit. and by no means do i want to send a message that we are taking our eye off of iraq, that is not the case. it is still. we have challenges there. al-qaida is still there. and very specifically, al-qaida in iraq planning. and spectacular bombings and like the ones that we have seen the 3 that we have seen in recent months. so we are very vigilant there. by am very pleased with where we are and the direction we are headed in. afghanistan and pakistan. this was i think, i think that this is my 14th trip to pakistan since i have been chairman. it speaks to the priority.

it speaks to from my perspective, the need to continue to build a relationship and -- build it on a basis of relearned trust. because we have lost trust. between the two countries and across the board. we were on a 12-year gap from 1990 to 2002. we don't have strong military, military relationships. because there wasn't anyway to do that. in that gap. so, for the last several years, we have worked hard to head that into the right direction. we will continue to do that. and the focus of the afghanistan-pakistan strategy and the president's decision is everybody and every a little bit as much on pakistan as it is on afghanistan that is lost sometimes in the focus of how many troops but it is not about troops. that certainly is a critical part of it. it is about essentially a region that must be

addressed and must be addressed in a way that um moves positively towards better security. and not in the direction that certainly it is going into afghanistan right now. i was actually impressed in pakistan that -- and i have been with the chief of the army many times. you know. we went up to s.w.a.t. and i was spent all day in s.w.a.t. and essentially i was impress with the the progress that they had made. the minimal collateral damage that was inflicted and less than a year ago frankly, there wouldn't have been many of that you say would have expect that had outcome in s.w.a.t.. s.w.a.t. was goodling so badly at the time. and as general report today me. it was the 9th operation in the last year to year and a half. and he has a military that is lost a lot of soldiers. an awful lost wound and has also been pressed certainly on an operational tempo as it actually has come to

learn counter insurgency much as we have post 2006 when we had the surge in iraq. um, so clearly, there are an awful lot of pakistani citizens losing their lives because of the terrorist activities inside of that country. we are working hard to form a mutual path to eliminate the terrorists and certainly from the united states perspective, get at those safe a enz, where al-qaida leadership lives and plans and is -- leads al-qaida and certainly is very much tied to threatening us and there is no better indication of that than what happened here in detroit on the 25th of december. so, an awful lot of effort there. the president's decision to add the 30,000 troops to

increase and accelerate the civilian surge into afghanistan, to focus on the development and to focus on governance from the district up to the national level to really focus on corruption as well and i believe that we have the right leadership there, and so now, from certainly, our main goal in afghanistan and pakistan over the next couple of years is to execute the strategy. don't leave the broader middle east and south asia without talking about iran, usually when i talk about the broader middle east, and academicly i may get this wrong but it is tehran beirut and everything in between. and you notion the continuing concern with iran and the develop mechblt its --. i believe strategic intent to have nuclear weapons -- i think that would be incredibly destabilizing,

not the least of all because of the potential for an arms race in that war which is what we do not need. as well as their continued support for terrorism whether it is hezbollah or hamas, or other terrorist groups that they are -- they are supporting. so, and certainly, i like, i am sure like everybody in this room, and anybody listening have watched the developments in iran over the last several months. and i am sure that those will continue. i think that we need to be mindful obviously, of those events. of those -- what is going on there. including the need to i think, aggressively address the nuclear potential and nuclear weapons issue. internationally. discussions right now of additional sanctions. and to continue where

possible to engage and to have a dialogue. i talked about the lack of trust between the united states and pakistan. built very well on that 12-year gap. which we are renew sog we are 4 to 5 years back into establishing working to establish that trust. >> we have got a relationship with iraq that goes back about 6 years now. to 2003. as we look for a long-term relationship, with iraq. when i am in afghanistan. i get the same question asked as when i am in pakistan. will you leave us again? they remember very well that we have in the past, and so, there is a trust issue there. there is uncertainty. through afghanistan -- and afghanistan's eyes as to whether or not we will stay. and so there is a trust problem there. and a relationship building requirement there as well. and when i come back it iran, we will not have had a

relationship with iran since 1979. so, building that kind of a relationship, and what is that mean? and i speak to the difficulty of the other relationships and look at what 30 years potentially can do. so there is a awful lot of both concern and potential. and i think focus that will need to be sustained with respect to iran and that part of the world. we have great friends in that part of the world. allies that have supported us. who are anxious to continue to support us and to see stability there particularly in the gulf area and not see it -- not see it break out into any kind of conflict. um, briefly, i talk about the -- what i call the best military i have served with since 1968. our young men and women that serve right now. extraordinary. people who sat and paid the

ultimate sacrifice, have been wounded. and whose lives have changed forever. who have families. that have been there. unbelievable in terms of support. whout whom we won be close to where we are and in either of the two fights. and two to whom i believe particularly for those that have given so much. we owe an eternal debt this. is the kind of thing that we need to focus on. i think as a country to make sure that those that sacrificed so much, are well cared for not just by the department of defense or the va, when they return but literally by communities through the the land. they have gone to war, is sacrificed much. done what we have asked them to do and we owe them a great debt not just of gratitude. we need to ensure that their

american dream still has a future. and it is pretty simple. they want to go to school. get married, have kids. have a job. own a house. it is not complex but the path has changed. and speaking to the force which is -- we are about to start deploying our major units for the fifth long deployment. if you start 2001-2002. and the way that i tell the story, is if i am a 10-year-old in 2002 and my father went off to war -- and he is now coming up on his 5th major deployment and i just went off to college, and think about the impact of that on a family and extraordinary strength of our families to basically to be able to absorb that they have paid a huge price as well. and so, i am very mindful of the stress. obviously we are concerned about the increase of

numbers of suicides. the kinds of other pressure that are our members are under and we have taken significant steps to address those. but the operational tempo in the next couple of years will not put us into a position where we will be home twice as long as we are deployed. that is our goal. the marine corps will be there in about a year. but it will be -- probably be 2 to 2 1/2 years before the army is based on the expectations for the deployment right now. so they have sacrificed tremendously and performed well. they are resilient. both in the military side and family side. and they have become the family piece has become much more integral to our readiness than it ever has been. it needs to be that way for the future. >> the last i will talk briefly about is, there is the rest of the world.

out there as well. and it is not going away. we need to, i think continue to be engaged and involved. whether it is in our own hemisphere which i often speak to and certainly, the visible challenges thaexist in our southern neighbor, mexico, and in latin america. i was raised as someone train today look east and west. even being raised in southern california. i didn't look south very much. yet in the global world that we are living in right now, we have to focus more and more there as well. so there are challenges associate with the latin america. the emergence of china. and what does that mean? and the economic -- i pay attention to the economic engines, china, india, europe. us, brazil. and what does that mean for the future? i think in the long run it will be the engines that drive outcomes. so this is important that we

pay a lot of attention to with a what is going on in other parts of the world. we stood up. last. a year and a half ago now. in -- for the sole purpose is being able to focus engagement strategy from the military perspective of africa. a wond full continent of great resources. wonderful people. and huge challenges. whether familiar end. disease. and i think that the world will need to be engaged there. so, and then as i look to the rest of the world, i also try to keep my head up. i look to what is the united states military look like after the two wars. and i always worry about fighting the last war. and for where we are going you know. these will be the last wars. and how much of this is relevant for the future?

and what kind of a training equipment, people, what is the size of the force? and what our readiness requirements will be. where we will be operate something very much on my mind as well it. is very difficult sometimes to pick out in that crystal ball exactly what is going to happen. we do not have a very good track record for predicting. but a balanced force. that is ready. and trained and able to adapt at very rapidly to emerging circumstances a absolutely critical. we will need to be as a force, i use the characteristics of our special forces. we will need to be lighter. lethal. adaptable. flexible. more timely. and the ability to match the speed of war. which i this think that we have achieved in the current fight.

frankly, with we way behind when the wars started and we now achieved that. we have to get ahead of it. and not even the other possibilities. that are significant for instance in space. and the cyber world et cetera. and as was indicated in the introduction, we live in times that are enormously challenging. i want to reassure you that -- that what i said before is fundamental to me getting up every single day. this is the best military we have ever had. have i great confidence in them but, i am also, we are living in a time that is not all about the military. there is. the military would like to be the supporting entity and to lead in our policy to be a supporting part of our overall policy globally and not --. not engaged from the standpoint of conflict but

engaged from the standpoint of being preventative so that in fact these kinds of conflicts will not break out. um, with that, i guess i will stop and i will be glad to take your questions. great. thank you. [applause] >> admiral. thank you very much. i would like to open up a question discussion by if i can asking you a question that stems from the chairman's guidance which was issued on december 21st. one aspect of this talked about the promise of the fight in accurate stan and afghanistan. where you -- if i quote you you say, we must continue to push our best talent forward and into the fight and make painful choices elsewhere in order to make sure that we have our best talent in afghanistan and pakistan. it was then four days lighter we had the christmas attack. and suddenly as you said it

in opening remarks, a country that was not on the radar. yemen. went on the radar. who knows whapz before the end of the year there will be an iran contingency againsty on the radar. how does one. -- do we have the assets and the troops and how does one plan when you start the year of planning focused on that within days, expanding even just within the central command region to yemen and perhaps elsewhere? are we prepared for this multiplicity of challenges in this part of the world? >> spoke earlier about stewart coming up with this google map of yemen. i don't want to leave the impression that we have not been focused on yemen for a significant period of time. we have. we have engaged with their military. we have been engaged in terms of their support. the support. and yemen is a country that is as is somalia, i have

been concerned about for a time in terms of becoming the next safe haven for al-qaida and certainly you see that very much in the four as a result of the incident on the 24 -- 25th of december. so, from a stand point of capability and what i think that we need to be able to do, i am comfortable that we can do that right now. and we have certainly focused on iran for a long time. and recognized and to my remarks earlier about the appreciate that you remember is on our forces -- we recognize what the potential could be there and at the same time, we have look today do all we can to ensure that conflict doesn't break out there while at the same time, preparing forces as we do for many contingencies that we understand may occur. so, we are very hard pressed right now. we are in the two conflicts.

yet. the vast majority of our capability in terms of these two conflicts it our ground forces. and certainly, not for me to decide, but the likelihood that our ground forces would have to go somewhere in these kinds of numbers, in some other part of the world, or even in the same region i think is pretty low. we have a tremendous air force and a tremendous navy that is actually operating. both operating at a high pace and not what the ground forces are. but also they present a strategic reserve that i very much rely on. we are working hard to sustain that as well. also, would i point out that there are 43 countries in afghanistan with combat troops. we are not in this alone. i believe that for years we can't do it alone anymore.

it takes allies. it takes partners. it takes a alliance to essentially move forward in the world we are living in. so as we increase the number of troops that go into afghanistan, so did nato. much against the grain of what a lot of people thought would happen as recently as a year ago and nato certainly from their commitments intends to maintain a ratio of 2 to 1 or some 40,000 nato troops there now. and they will go up as we add troops in the next year. :

the assumption there is that you are clear in your mind that the iranians are engaged in developing nuclear arms. it is that correct? >> i believe that there on a path that has strategic intent to develop nuclear weapons, and have been for some time. and, as i have said in more than one forum i think that the outcome is potentially a very, very destabilizing outcome.

on the other hand, when asked about striking iran, specifically, that also has a very, very destabilizing outcome and what i worry about in both of those cases quite frankly are the unintended consequences of both of those outcomes even for the ones we can predict. i worry about the ones we can't predict and that part of the world could become much more, much more unstable, which is a dangerous global out, much less regional, for the world we are living in right now so that is a pretty small space between those two right now, and that is why one of the things i think it's so important is that we continue internationally, diplomatically, politically not just read the united states of the international community continue to focus on this to prevent those two outcomes. >> very good, thank you. we will take a couple of

questions and start with congressman on my right and there's a microphone heading to you and i will work over. could we please keep our questions brief so we can get a couple of them in. speak right into it. >> thank you for your presentation admiral. the philosopher famously observed that those who do not study the past are condemned to repeat it. what rescinded you have to believe that we are more likely to b afghanistan then the british were in the 19th century when the soviet union was in the 20th century? >> in afghanistan we have to be very careful about the lessons that we draw from the past. the other one that is frequently brought up this vietnam, and there are similarities that certainly can be drawn, but

there are also significant differences. led by the fact that certainly we have no intention of occupying that country and i think the president's decision to indicate starting the middle of july 2011 we are going to star to transition to their lead was a very important part of that message. strategically certainly i know and we know we are not staying. that said, of playing that out there to essentially start to turn it over to the afghan leadership was absolutely critical and it was the right message and i just got back from there. i think it was received in the right way. the afghan people are vehemently opposed to the taliban, and they are in many cases on the fence because they don't know how this is going to come out and there is a pragmatic side of that that

they are also dealing with, so from the standpoint of that kind of support, it is dramatically different. there are 43 countries that are engaged with combat troops and others who are engaged on the ngo's site etc. that is a very strong strategic message to me about the overall concern for what happens there. so, i really do try to be informed by the past and those things that are relevant, but in fact, and use that certainly azad instruction in terms of the potential for what the outcome could be and i really do believe that these troops and the approach, the civilian surge has the opportunity, the potential over the next year or a year-and-a-half to reverse the insurgency momentum and put this in a position to start to turn it over to the afghan leadership.

>> thank you admiral mullen. how are you? this is about yemen. have you been asked i guess by the president to come up with potential targets for what could clearly be described as retaliation for the december 25th attack and what are we doing in yemen and is it limited by our being overstretched? >> first of all i want to applaud the actions of the yemeni government and the yemeni armed forces because they have taken significant steps visibly recently but quite frankly they worked hard over the last couple of years to improve their own capabilities. secondly, we are and have been in support from a training standpoint of what they are doing and how they are adapting to the threat. and, with this very clear focus

on the growth of the al qaeda, in yemen and specifically from my perspective to make sure that we don't create another safe haven or another one doesn't get created. and then the third piece operationally i just don't discuss those kinds of details. what the president asks us to do or not do and i just won't get into those kinds of operations. >> barbara slavin up in the front could you just wait for the mic please, barbara? >> thanks very much. nice to see you again. i wanted to ask about the haqqani network in north waziristan. we have seen the pakistani armed forces stepped up come the clear militants from swat, the one to south waziristan but they don't seem to be doing much in terms of north waziristan and the theory aires is they have connections with these people they want to preserve for the day when the united states is not in afghanistan. are you disappointed with what

the pakistanis have been willing to do and are you concerned that the u.s. is not up to the challenge of dealing in particular with the haqqani network? >> i have had many discussions with the pakistani leadership about the haqqani network specifically. and, i use the example of swat. i think it really is instructive to me that last march and then into july, the predictions and swat word dire, and not just the predictions, but what specifically people thought the pac mill could do with respect to it and they literally have turned the place are brown. the insurgents are gone. they started to build schools. they have started to build training facilities and they-- there is an international need quite frankly for the build phase or the rebuilt phase in swat to come in behind the

security piece, and the resources are not available to the level that they need to be, but that example is powerful to me in terms of what we thought was going to happen, which was it was going to go much more badly than even i think it was last july timeframe. so i spoke earlier of literally nine campaigns that general kayani has lead over the last year, year in the half. this change in focus and i have been out in seen their counterinsurgency training which is army wide. the removal of troops from the east, from the kashmir border to fight in the west, and this is very much tied to recognition that they have a serious problem in their own country. and, general kayani and i have spoken specifically about the haqqani network many times and

there is increased pressure being brought on that network but i think it is on fair to say, having, in fact literally just finishing the operation in swat, how come you haven't kicked one off into north waziristan? i am sorry, south waziristan. when they have got some other operations that are ongoing, they had to go back in reengage ian so i am not one that says that they are not going to do this. he certainly is aware of the challenges associated with that and there is an isi piece of this to which you will live in i understand that as well and i have said for a long time i think in the long run, that how major organizations, the military, the isi and other security organizations act in pakistan and look to the future is going to be based in great part how it comes out in afghanistan. what kind of neighbor to that want to have and a peaceful

stable relationship there will do a lot to strategically ship tal those organizations look at how they provide their own national security. i see that shift. maybe not as visibly as some-- i am sorry, it is not portrayed visibly in the media but i have seen it internally and it is going to take some time. we are old theory impatient. there is a patient's level i think we all have to recognize that is tied to their ability to do this. >> let me ask you one final question before we close this part of the program. we have spoken quite a bit about what you call kinetic operations. there's another part of this overall fight which has to do with countering the ideology of the radical extremism which gives rise to some of the problems we are talking about. the military is often a very innovative part of our government in so many areas. is this part of your mission and what areas, what ways are you

engaged and is the military engaging countering the ideology behind some of the problems? >> i think it is absolutely a key piece to all of this. i think the kinetics-- as the counterinsurgency efforts in iraq, actually historically in any counterinsurgency, as it is in afghanistan, there is a global peace to this that is not kinetic at all or essentially the population throughout the globe figures out a way to say this is enough and we are not going to allow this anymore. and not unlike an insurgency, there will be hard court extremeness bucan, will only respond to leave their elimination or capture and i understand that. and because the military carry such a big part of this load, i

am very focus on the nonkinetic side of this, which gets to in ways the overall economy in various countries throughout the world, governments which provide for their people, that will raise young muslims in particular male muslims with the future as opposed to putting them in a position to make this kind of decision, to become an extremist, or a suicide bomber and i think that is something that all of us must depend on in terms of how this gets approached in the long run end in the end i believe, we need to support muslims and this great religion which is being corrupted by a very potent, very powerful in terms of its impact,

and at the same time relatively small number of individuals. i think we have got to stay up that. who focus very much on us, americans, those in the west and i think that is the long-term battle quite frankly. it is not all about kinetics. >> admiral mullen, thank you very much for joining us. [applause] as admiral mullen-- i am sorry. as admiral mullen the parts i would like to ask my eisenstaedt and jim hoagland to come up and join me. it is a special pleasure, i didn't even know when i casted jim hoagland if he would participate in today's event i didn't even know the news that he would be announcing in the

pages of the post last weekend. that he has entered semiretirement, certainly not full retirement, so jim this really gives me an opportunity to say thank you, thank you for providing such wonder for reading and stimulation to times a week for so many years. thank you for being such an incisive observer of foreign policy and politics about foreign policy here in washington and thank you for being such a good friend of this institute. i am delighted to welcome to this podium and i think all of my colleagues would be interested in your-- anything else that is on your mind. [applause] >> thank you. that's splendid introduction reminds me of the old lyndon johnson's story about how he with his mother had been here to hear it because she would have believed it and his father because he would have left his head off. and admiral mullen started off

actually by asking when he described his experience with jon stewart last night asking the question that occurred to me about trying to do this gig that raw bess me to do is why in the world would you do this? the short answer is rob asked me to come and he promised to distinguished audience in the certainly deliver that. he promised a very good and interesting speech from our speaker. and so, i foolishly agreed to try to do a kind of nfl instant replay. which doesn't really bend itself to this format, but i am going to try to hit some highlights of the things i thought he said and one particular thing he didn't say and talk about that and then raise a question or two, and then quickly turn it over to mark for a much more in-depth analysis without what the admiral has said.

it is interesting that i think that there that that admiral mullen was on john stuart last night, is here today is all around town in many aspects right now, tells us about the emphasis that this the administration not just at roland, but this administration particularly this white house puts on communication, and on something they call it the white house strategic communication. the fact that admiral mullen was on john stuart last night speaking to a core part of the obama constituency, 1925-year-olds i think is both exemplary, it is laudatory but it also tells us a little bit about how communications, the communication policy is shaped which is very much directed back into the united states, back into trying to keep the public

with the administration at a very difficult moment not only because of the world economy and the american economy that because of fighting two wars one of which the president denounced, one of which the president described as the right war at the right time and the right place. so, i think we are very aware of the administration's addressing a target audience through foreign policy. all the administrations do that. this one does it perhaps with more skill and certainly with more concentration then past administrations have. but i think it raises one of the questions i want to try to deal with very briefly here a little bit, is whether or not that is all to the good, whether or not there are any costs to the kind of obsessive would probably be too strong a word, but not totally wrong word, of shaping

american public opinion to support the administration into support the president. again all administrations do it. this one does it more than most i do believe. and listening to the admiral i was also struck by him describing what was his 14th trip to pakistan. that is a lot. i wonder if there are consequences to the kind of diplomacy by travel that we saw undertaken and to some extent in vietnam. i know the admiral in particular would take that kind of analogy but if you will remember those long trips and frequent visits by bob mcnamara and others, the jet lag among other things but pakistan also has a particular meaning when the chairman shows up 14 times in deals by and large with the pakistani military. in deals with the pakistani military on the basis of we have to build up a new trust relationship in military to

military relations. at a time when various a relatively weak civilian government tried to get its feet on the ground, i think in many ways much to my surprise trying to do the right thing to a great extent. and whether or not it is possible that this forum-- form of frequent visitation with a soothing message perhaps for the pakistani military leadership really contributes to this solidary and the political decisions that have to be made there. as i say i put it as a question and not as a fact. obviously, admiral mullen's remarks here today demonstrate that this administration has gone to great lengths to recruit and to keep a talented and experienced, dedicated and focused national security and foreign policy team.

my remarks don't really reflect a feeling of and the lack of confidence in this team. i think it is a good team. i think they are doing a remarkable job in very difficult circumstances but partly because i wouldn't want rok to be disappointed in not having a little bit of a conflictual atmosphere around the meeting, i did want to raise that question. and then to go on to what i thought was a bifurcated presentation. i thought on iraq, and on pakistan and to a lesser extent but still on afghanistan as well as you heard the administrations fairly clearly informed and clearly stated views about what they think of the problem and what the policies are and where we are going. that was not true and iran. i thought the admiral's remarks on iran were remarkably boy of

content. he is a military man and it is obvious he doesn't want to tip his hand militarily and indeed has not been asked to do so. rob's question to draw from him a fairly candid description but at the end of the day it still didn't match what he had to say on the other trouble spots. and i think that does reflect a lack of a clear policy within the administration about what to do other than to play for time. fortunately the admiral did point to the danger that playing for time on iran represents so there is that awareness there. so, that was the main thing that i didn't hear discussed, in terms of his own subjects and in terms of the questions that were put to him. let me just conclude by trying to be a little clear and perhaps we can go into it in questions and answers if you want to, my

concern about the cost of the emphasis on strategic communications, on communications that frequently seem to me not to deal with the elements of actual policy formulation. let me try to be a little clearer on that. visit administrations top priority the from day one was to change the u.s. image in the world, all to the good. it was needed and they have done something of a good job of doing that but if you look at it today and ask yourself in policy terms what remains from the cairo speech, the the ankara speech, how does it translate into combatting al qaeda's cynical exploitation of the palestinian issue? how does it relate to detecting a nigerian training in yemen to try to bomb an airliner going to ditch right? and most importantly, what does it mean in terms of the

sacrifices that the israelis and arabs both have to make to get a real peace process started again. i am not sure i can trace that lineberry specifically. again these are some quickly scribbled while i was looking at the replay tape comments, and i will leave it to mike to get into the other. thank you rob. [applause] >> i will now ask my eisenstadt the director of our military security study program to offer his remarks. >> thank. i think my first impression after hearing admiral mullen talk really a sense of all at the incredibly complex set of security problems that our military are dealing with in this part of the world.

both in terms of geographical scope in terms of dealing with the problems of the stability and security and insurgency in areas we have-- after 9/11 everybody knows about our involvement in afghanistan and afterwards in the iraq but we have also been involved in the horn of africa and increasingly deeply involved then yemen, right adjacent to that area. so, our engagement area has expanded in terms of geographic scope and in terms of the complexity of the issues that we deal with. no blunder our own security level but cut across all the instruments of national power, diplomacy, military, economic and development issues as well as the informational the meaned which admiral mullen talked about. so i don't envy him. he has tremendous challenges that he deals with on a daily basis as to our military men and women in uniform every day.

i would like to just flush out a few points that kind of built on some of the points and sharpen some of the points the acclimate as well as fill-in some of the gaps. the first thing that jumps out at me, and i think this point was implicit in some of his comments but i think this coming year will be a major turning point in a number of areas in which we are engaged in. he did talk about iraq, the drawdown, the elections and you know it has kind have been a place where every year we say the next 12 to 18 months are crucial but really this coming year will be crucial simply because the elections appeal to the potential for increased violence if the elections turn out a certain way and it will occur at a time in which we are dramatically drawing down our forces. iran, well i think determine the future and tell us whether the

domestic opposition has a fighting chance that really affecting change in the political system and iran. we will also know if art nuclear diplomacy will be successful and finally this issue that no one is the elephant in the room that nobody mentions the possible of the early military action and how we deal with the consequences of that. afghanistan as well will be crucial in determining the trajectory of our engagement there. and then finally developments in yemen in the coming months. we will have a dramatic impact on insular stability. a while ago when asked about what the possibility of israeli preventive military action against the rammed the secretary gates-- secretary gates said admiral mullen has said this would stress our forces. we have two of knowledge we are because of what is going on in the horn of africa and yemen are

military is dealing with two wars, two plus and we are still looking at the possibility of an israeli military strike sometime this year which will further complicate matters for us. with regard to another point that he alluded to but i would like to kind of is the balancing act, the balancing of our commitments with our assets and i would just like to focus on the iraq afghan couplet. since the very beginning of our involvement in afghanistan and then in iraq our involvement in both areas that had an intimate reciprocal influence on each other. i think it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the u.s. was in part encouraged to invade iraq by the swift and easy victory in afghanistan and the success of the bahn meeting afterwards which reste